This Guide Is From Microsoft

Features and Benefits of Windows Server 2003
The enhanced reliability of Windows Server 2003, through better memory management and other core enhancements made to the kernel of the program, is so striking that this feature benefit is reason enough for most organizations to upgrade.
Features of Windows Server 2003
A complete look at the improvements and new features of the Windows Server 2003 family would require a separate document, and is beyond the scope of this paper. In addition to enhanced reliability, Windows Server 2003 has a range of new features to enhance an organization’s network infrastructure, including:
• Active Directory—The Active Directory service simplifies the administration of complex network directories and makes it easy for users to locate resources on even the largest networks. This enterprise-class directory service is scalable, built from the ground up using Internet-standard technologies, and fully integrated at the operating-system level in Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition.

Windows Server 2003 provides numerous ease-of-use improvements to Active Directory and new features, including cross-forest trusts, the ability to rename domains, and the ability to deactivate attributes and classes in the schema so that their definitions can be changed. The Active Directory service includes improved methods for finding and changing the location or attributes of objects, command-line tools, greater flexibility in working with the schema, application directory partitions, ability to add additional domain controllers to existing domains using backup media, universal group membership caching, and easier management. As directory enabled applications become more prevalent, organizations can use the capabilities of Active Directory to manage even the most complicated enterprise network environments.
• Application Services—Advances in Windows Server 2003 provide many benefits for developing applications, including simplified integration and interoperability, improved developer productivity, and increased enterprise efficiency, all of which result in lower total cost of ownership (TCO) and better performance.
• Command-Line Management—The Windows Server 2003 family provides a significantly enhanced command-line infrastructure, letting administrators perform most management tasks without using a graphical user interface. Of special importance is the ability to perform a wide range of tasks by accessing the information store enabled by Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). This WMI command-line (WMIC) feature provides a simple command-line interface that interoperates with existing shells and utility commands and can be easily extended by scripts or other administration-oriented applications. Overall, the greater command-line functionality in the Windows Server 2003 family, combined with ready-to-use scripts, rivals the power of other operating systems often associated with higher cost of ownership. Administrators accustomed to using the command line to manage UNIX or Linux systems can continue managing from the command line in the Windows Server 2003 family.
• Clustering Services—Available only in Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, this service provides high availability and scalability for mission-critical applications such as databases, messaging systems, and file and print services. Clustering works by enabling multiple servers (nodes) to remain in constant communication. If one of the nodes in a cluster becomes unavailable as a result of failure or maintenance, another node immediately begins providing service, a process known as failover. Users who are accessing the service continue their activities, unaware that service is now being provided from a different server (node).

Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, support server cluster configurations of up to eight nodes. Installation and setup is easier and more robust in Windows Server 2003, and enhanced network features provide greater failover capabilities and high system uptime. Clustering services have become increasingly essential for organizations deploying business-critical e-commerce and line-of-business applications.
• File and Print Services—Windows Server 2003 ensures higher reliability with new features such as Automated System Recovery (ASR), making it easier to recover your system, back up your files, and maintain maximum availability. An enhanced file system infrastructure makes it easier to utilize, secure, and store files and other essential resources. Employees benefit by always being able to access the resources they need or quickly recover files without costly assistance from an IT helpdesk, and businesses benefit from a reduced TCO.
• Integrated PKI Support Using Kerberos Version 5—Using Certificate Services and certificate management tools, organizations can deploy their own public key infrastructure (PKI). With PKI, administrators can implement standards-based technologies, such as smart card logon capabilities, client authentication (through Secure Sockets Layer and Transport Layer Security), secure e-mail, digital signatures, and secure connectivity using Internet Protocol security (IPSec). Using Certificate Services, administrators can set up and manage certification authorities that issue and revoke X.509 V3 certificates. This means that organizations do not have to depend on commercial client authentication services, although commercial client authentication can be integrated into an organization's public key infrastructure.

Kerberos version 5 is a mature, industry-standard network authentication protocol. With Kerberos version 5 support, a fast, single-logon process gives users the access they need to enterprise resources, as well as to other environments that support this protocol. Support for Kerberos version 5 includes additional benefits, such as mutual authentication (client and server must both provide authentication) and delegated authentication (the user's credentials are tracked end to end).
• Intelligent File Services: Encrypting File System, Distributed File System, and File Replication Service—The Encrypting File System (EFS) enables users to encrypt and decrypt files to protect them from intruders who might gain unauthorized physical access to their sensitive, stored data (for example, by stealing a laptop or external disk drive). Encryption is transparent: Users work with encrypted files and folders just as they do with any other files and folders. If the EFS user is the same person that encrypted the file or folder, the system automatically decrypts the file or folder when the user accesses it later.

The Distributed File System (DFS) simplifies the task of managing shared-disk resources across a network. Administrators can assign logical names to the shared drives on a network, rather than requiring users to know the physical name assigned to each server they need to access.

The File Replication service (FRS) is a significant improvement over the directory replication feature in Windows NT Server 4.0. For example, FRS provides multi-master file replication for designated directory trees between designated servers. FRS is also used by DFS to automatically synchronize content between assigned replicas, and by Active Directory to automatically synchronize content from the system volume information across domain controllers.
• Internet Information Services 6.0—IIS 6.0 is a full-featured Web server that enables Web applications and XML Web services. IIS 6.0 has been completely re-architected with a new fault-tolerant process model that greatly boosts the reliability of Web sites and applications. Now, IIS can isolate an individual Web application or multiple sites into a self-contained process (called an application pool) that communicates directly with the operating system kernel. This feature increases throughput and capacity of applications while offering more headroom on servers, effectively reducing hardware needs. These self-contained application pools prevent one application or site from disrupting the XML Web services or other Web applications on the server.

IIS also provides health monitoring capabilities to discover, recover, and prevent Web application failures. On Windows Server 2003, Microsoft ASP.NET natively uses the new IIS process model. These advanced application health and detection features are also available to existing applications running under Internet Information Server 4.0 and IIS 5.0, with the vast majority of applications not needing any modification.
• Management Services—Easier to deploy, configure, and use, Windows Server 2003 will provide centralized, customizable management services to reduce TCO. Administrators can use Group Policy to define the settings and allowed actions for users and computers. In contrast with local policy, they can use Group Policy to set policies that apply across a given site, domain, or organizational unit in Active Directory. Policy-based management simplifies such tasks as system update operation, application installation, user profiles, and desktop-system lockdown.
• Expected to be available as an add-in component to Windows Server 2003, the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) provides the new framework for managing Group Policy. With GPMC, Group Policy becomes much easier to use, a benefit that will enable more organizations to better use Active Directory and take advantage of its powerful management features.
• Networking and Communications—Networking improvements and new features in Windows Server 2003 extend the versatility, manageability, and dependability of network infrastructures, expanding on the foundation established in Windows 2000 Server.
• Security—The Windows Server 2003 operating system provides many important new security features and improves on the security features originally included in Windows 2000 Server, making it easier to secure a full range of devices. New security features include Wireless Encryption Protocol (WEP) plus Password Encrypted Authentication Protocol (PEAP), as well as the IEEE 802.1X protocol, which makes it easier to protect wireless local area networks (LANs) from the threat of eavesdropping within your business environment; Virtual Private Networking (VPN) plus Quarantine, which allows for inspection and proactive securing of VPN users in your Enterprise, Encrypting File System (EFS); certificate services; and automatic smart card enrollment.
• Server Performance—In internal tests, Windows Server 2003 shows dramatic performance gains over previous versions of Windows server operating systems. For example, file and Web server performance is two times faster than Windows NT Server 4.0. While your organization's performance gains may vary because of unique network and computer settings, Microsoft is confident that the improved performance of Windows Server 2003 will help you deliver faster service for your network solutions.
• Storage Management—Windows Server 2003 introduces new and enhanced features for storage management, making it easier and more reliable to manage and maintain disks and volumes, backup and restore data, and connect to Storage Area Networks (SANs).
• Terminal Server—Terminal Server enables administrators to deliver Windows-based applications, or the Windows desktop itself, to virtually any computing device—including those that cannot run Windows. When users run an application on Terminal Server, the application execution takes place on the server, and only keyboard, mouse, and display information is transmitted over the network. Users see only their own individual sessions, which are managed transparently by the server operating system, and remain independent of any other client session.

Remote Desktop for Administration builds on the remote administration mode of Windows 2000 Terminal Services. In addition to the two virtual sessions that are available in Windows 2000 Terminal Services remote administration mode, an administrator can also remotely connect to the real console of a server. Terminal Server can enhance an enterprise's software deployment capabilities for a variety of scenarios that remain difficult to solve using traditional application distribution technologies. It provides organizations with a more reliable, more scalable, and more manageable server-based computing platform. It offers new options for application deployment, more efficient access to data over low bandwidth, and enhances the value of legacy and new, lighter-weight devices.
• Volume Shadow Copy Service—This feature enables administrators to configure point-in-time copies of critical data volumes without service interruption. These copies can then be used for service restoration, archival purposes, or restoration. Users can retrieve archived versions of their documents that are invisibly maintained on the server. Productivity is improved by the ability to better recover documents.
• Windows Media Services—Windows Media Services is the server component of Windows Media Technologies used to distribute digital media content over corporate intranets and the Internet. In addition to traditional digital distribution services, such as File and Web services, Windows Media Services delivers the most reliable, scaleable, manageable, and economical solutions for distributing streaming audio and video.
Windows Server 2003 also serves as the foundation for Microsoft .NET, a set of Microsoft software technologies for connecting your world of information, people, systems, and devices. Microsoft .NET enables an unprecedented level of software integration through the use of XML Web services—small, discrete, building-block applications that connect to each other—as well as to other, larger applications—via the Internet.
.NET-connected software from Microsoft includes a comprehensive family of products—clients that power smart devices, services, servers, and tools—designed to support XML and incorporate Internet industry standards. Development becomes easier with Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and the Microsoft .NET Framework. The .NET Framework provides the programming model for building, deploying and running Web-based applications and XML Web services on this highly stable platform. It provides a productive, standards-based, multi-language environment for integrating existing investments with next-generation applications and services as well as the agility to solve the challenges of deployment and operation of Internet-scale applications. Existing applications can be easily repackaged as XML Web services and UNIX applications can be integrated or even migrated into the solution with less work than in the past
Benefits of Windows Server 2003
There are a number of benefits to upgrading from Windows NT Server 4.0 to Windows Server 2003. Windows Server 2003 is:
• Easier to deploy, manage, and use—With its familiar Windows interface, Windows Server 2003 is easier to use than earlier versions of the Windows server platform. New streamlined wizards simplify the setup of specific server roles and routine server management tasks so that even servers without a dedicated administrator are easy to manage. In addition, administrators have several new and improved features designed to make it easier to deploy Active Directory. Large Active Directory replicas can be deployed from backup media, and upgrading from earlier server operating systems such as Microsoft Windows NT is easier with the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT), which copies passwords and is fully scriptable. Maintaining Active Directory is easier with new features, such as the ability to rename domains and redefine schema, giving administrators the flexibility to handle organizational changes that may occur. In addition, cross-forest trusts let administrators connect Active Directory forests, providing autonomy without sacrificing integration. Lastly, improved deployment tools, such as Remote Installation Services, help administrators quickly create system images and deploy servers.
• Provides a more secure infrastructure—More efficient and secure networked computing is more important than ever for a business to remain competitive. Windows Server 2003 lets organizations take advantage of existing IT investments, and extend those advantages to partners, customers, and suppliers by deploying key features like cross-forest trusts in the Microsoft Active Directory® service as well as Microsoft .NET Passport integration. Identity management in Active Directory spans the entire network, helping ensure security throughout the enterprise. It's easy to encrypt sensitive data, and software restriction policies can be used to prevent damage caused by viruses and other malicious code. Windows Server 2003 is the best choice for deploying a public key infrastructure (PKI), and its autoenrollment and autorenewal features make it easy to deploy smart cards and certificates across the enterprise.
• Delivers enterprise-class reliability, availability, scalability, and performance—Reliability is enhanced through a range of new and improved features including memory mirroring, Hot Add Memory, and health detection in IIS 6.0. For higher availability, the Microsoft Cluster service now supports up to eight-node clusters and geographically separated nodes. Better scalability is provided with the ability to scale from a single-processor to 32-way systems. Overall, Windows Server 2003 is faster, with up to 140 percent better file-system performance as well as significantly faster performance for Active Directory, XML Web services, Terminal Services, and networking.
• Can lower TCO through consolidation and the latest technology—Windows Server 2003 provides many technical advances that help organizations lower total cost of ownership (TCO). The Windows Resource Manager, for example, lets administrators set resource usage (for processors and memory) on server applications and manage them though Group Policy settings. Network-attached storage helps consolidate file services. Other improvements include support for Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA), Intel Hyper-Threading technology, and multi-path input/output (I/O), all of which help "scale up" servers.
• Facilitates creation of dynamic Intranet and Internet Web sites—IIS 6.0, the Web server included in Windows Server 2003, provides enhanced security and a dependable architecture that offers application isolation and greatly improved performance. The result: higher overall reliability and uptime. And Microsoft Windows Media® services makes it easy to build streaming media solutions with dynamic content programming as well as faster and more reliable performance.
• Provides faster development with Integrated Application Server—The Microsoft .NET Framework is deeply integrated into the Windows Server 2003 operating system. Microsoft ASP.NET enables high-performance Web applications. With .NET-connected technology, developers are freed from having to write tedious "plumbing" code and can work efficiently with the programming languages and tools they already know. Windows Server 2003 provides many features that boost developer productivity and the value of applications. Existing applications can be easily repackaged as XML Web services. UNIX applications can be easily integrated or migrated. And developers can quickly build mobile-aware Web applications and services through ASP.NET mobile Web Forms controls and other tools.
• Makes it easy to find, share, and reuse XML Web Services—Windows Server 2003 includes Enterprise UDDI Services, a dynamic and flexible infrastructure for XML Web services. This standards-based solution enables companies to run their own UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration) directory for intranet or extranet use, making it easy to discover Web services and other programmatic resources. Developers can easily and quickly find and reuse the Web services available within the organization. IT administrators can catalog and manage the programmable resources in their network. Enterprise UDDI Services also helps companies build and deploy smarter, more reliable applications.
• Empowers users while helping to lower support costs—With the new shadow copy feature, users can retrieve previous versions of files instantly, without requiring costly assistance from a support professional. Enhancements to the Distributed File System (DFS) and File Replication service (FRS) provide users with a consistent way to access their files wherever they are. For remote users who need high levels of security, the remote access Connection Manager can be configured to give virtual private network (VPN) access to users without those users having to know the technical connection configuration information.
• Connects you with the expertise of a worldwide network of partners and Certified Professionals—Organizations have access to a wide range of solutions and expertise available worldwide, including 750,000 partners delivering hardware, software, and services as well as 450,000 Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCPs).
The features and benefits combine for a compelling case for migrating from Windows NT Server 4.0 to the Windows Server 2003 family of operating systems.

Choosing the Best Operating System
One of the first decisions to make in preparing for the upgrade is deciding which version of Windows Server 2003 will best meet your needs. The Microsoft Windows Server 2003 product family includes four editions:
• Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition—Designed for small organizations and departmental use, Standard Edition delivers intelligent file and printer sharing, secure Internet connectivity, centralized desktop application deployment, and Web solutions that connect employees, partners, and customers. Standard Edition provides high levels of dependability, scalability, and security.
• Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition—Designed for medium to large businesses, Enterprise Edition is the recommended operating system for servers running applications such as networking, messaging, inventory, and customer service systems, databases, and e-commerce Web sites. Enterprise Edition delivers high reliability, performance, and superior business value. It will be available in both 32-bit and 64-bit editions.
• Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition—Designed for businesses that demand the highest levels of scalability, availability, and reliability, Datacenter Edition lets you deliver mission-critical solutions for databases, enterprise resource planning software, high-volume real-time transaction processing, and server consolidation. Datacenter Edition will be available in both 32-bit and 64-bit editions.
• Windows Server 2003, Web Edition—Designed for building and hosting Web applications, Web pages, and XML Web services, Web Edition delivers a single-purpose solution for Internet service providers, application developers, and others wishing only to use or deploy specific Web functionality. Web Edition takes advantage of improvements in IIS 6.0, Microsoft ASP.NET, and the Microsoft .NET Framework.

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